Skip to content
Absence
  • Home
  • Essays
  • Relationship Research
    • Relationship Research Feed
  • About
    • About This Project
  • Reading List
  • Distance
  • Absence

boundaries

When Your Ex Asks How You Are, What Are They Really Asking?

August 30, 2026 by Absence
Woman looking at a smartphone after receiving a message from an ex, illustrating how to respond when your ex asks how you are.

A simple “How are you?” from an ex can carry far more emotional weight than the words themselves. The real question is often not what they mean, but what you want to happen next.

Categories Relationship Research, Breakups & Recovery, Longing Tags boundaries, breakup, breakup recovery, ex contact, ex relationships, relationships

Recent Posts

  • The Love You Keep Trying to Translate
  • The Message Is Not the Relationship
  • The Strange Grief of a Relationship That Never Became Official
  • Sleeping With an Ex Can Feel Like Not Quite Losing Them
  • What Betrayal Does After Cheating | Relationship Infidelity

Absence is a space for what lingers — memory, distance, and what doesn’t fully leave.

The Soft Distance · Left Unsaid · The Quiet Mark

Privacy Policy · Terms & Conditions · Disclaimer · Contact

© 2026 Absence • Built with GeneratePress